


Sense and Notion

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:06:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1633088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's determined to maintain their friendship, no matter how much work it takes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sense and Notion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for GrayCardamon

 

 

Bran grows up, and into himself in a way. When he was younger, his looks were a curse, just another thing that set him apart from the other kids. Some people thought he looked funny, other thought he looked creepy--everyone had an opinion because it was impossible to ignore him.

He grows up, and slowly realizes the unforeseen 'blessing' behind his looks. It's impossible to ignore him, which means that he can easily get almost anyone's attention whenever he wants it, especially when dealing with casual acquaintances and strangers such as tourists. The older he gets, the more people respect him, no longer thinking of him as just an odd little boy. He's difficult to dismiss, which he delightfully uses to his advantage.

Unfortunately, using the shock of his appearance only works when the other person can _see_ him, and that just might be one of the reasons he hasn't been able to get Will Stanton to bend to his will yet.

\---

The last time he saw Will had been a surreal time--a simple summer visit that felt more significant than it actually had been. Sometimes, when he idly remembers that summer, he half convinces himself there had been a grand adventure, but really it was a bunch of kids wandering around, following their whims for a few days. When Will said goodbye though, it felt like the end of something major, the end of an era, which was just weird because it wasn't like he had really known Will Stanton all that long, and of course they would be seeing each other again, within the next year or so most likely. But it felt like Will was saying goodbye for forever and Bran quickly decided that wasn't going to happen, if only because he didn't look forward to making another new friend when he already had such a decent, mostly uncomplicated one.

He made Will promise to write, to read and answer his letters, and then to one day visit again, even if he had to come without an invite from his Aunt Jen. Will had promised, with a bit of one of his odd looks on his face, and Bran had grinned in triumph. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but it felt a bit like winning a minor battle.

\---

So, Bran writes. And writes. Will reads the letters at the very least, though he's a bit horrible at replying to them. He writes, but there's always something withdrawn about his letters, like he's trying to be so boring that Bran will think nothing more of crumpling up the letters and forgetting about him. Bran isn't going to let Will get away with that--he sends longer, more detailed letters, and a good number of postcards too. Sometimes the same one over and over, just to see if it gets a reaction. His father despairs over the cost of postage, but after years of denying him trips to the cinema and potential jaunts with his schoolmates, he can't get too upset over his son having a friend. It's not Bran's fault that Will's gotten complicated and needs so much work from so far away to be fixed.

There's a point when Will writes back, and it's one of the more real letters instead of the formulaic ones. He asks if Bran is sending an equal number of letters to the Drew siblings, and suggests that if he isn't, he should. Bran replies that while he does write them on occasion, it's not the same because they're like a set--they don't really need someone from the outside intruding. Will may have more brothers and sisters, but he's a step away from them or something difficult to explain like that. Anyways, Bran writes that Will needs him more than the Drews need him, so he should stop being difficult and be himself and write back and accept that Bran isn't going to drift out of his life any time soon. Two weeks after he sends that particular letter he regrets it, wondering if that would be the end to their friendship, but three weeks later he opens a thicker letter from Will, and it's the most real letter yet. All the letters after that are full of Will, full of life.

Unfortunately, Bran still hasn't been able to convince Will to visit again. He asks him to come several times a year, and hints to his relatives how welcome Will would be if he happened to show up. He meets James and then Mary again, but Will finds ways to stay away. He always has reasons that manage to sound nothing like excuses, but Bran refuses to be impressed by all the interesting things that Will finds to do instead of visiting him.

At some point, he stops asking and starts giving Will reasons to come. He never says he misses seeing him and talking to him and listening to him attempt Welsh. He forgets all of the reasons he sends, but years later Will tells him that nine had something or other to do with sheep and seventeen were in Welsh. Bran doesn't ask if Will ever managed to translate those reasons, and never offers a translation.

Eventually Will turns up in Wales for a reason of his own. While Bran's been taking an extended gap year working around Tywyn for a couple of years, undecided if he wants to leave for college and risk not wanting to return, Will's managed to end up studying at a prestigious university. Officially he's come back to research the local myths and folklore for a paper, perhaps with an emphasis on how old place names being lost to tourist-friendly revisions is damaging oral traditions. Bran carefully explains that he's proud of Will's accomplishments, but really, he could have just come to visit, there was no reason to go to such lengths to have a 'reason'. Will just smiles softly and ducks his head, leaving Bran to wonder how he's ended up with such an odd, odd friend.

\---

When Will leaves, Bran follows, accepting the invitation without making Will repeat it countless times. He doesn't think about why it is easier to leave with Will at his side, and why he worries less about the future and where he'll eventually end up. He's decided to give the world a try, to see how it accepts him when there are other people trying so much harder to stand out, to be heard. He's looking forward to walking down the street and possibly not being the most interesting or unusual person to look at. He leaves his home still wanting to return one day, and anyways, now that Will's been back once, surely it'll be easier to get him to come back again if Bran does decide to live his life there.

Bran doesn't bother to think about why in all the futures he chooses to imagine that Will's always there by his side, or at the very most a letter's length way. It's just how it's going to be, even if it does take a lifetime to convince Will. 

 


End file.
